When Azurá Stevens returned to the Chicago Sky on a multi-year, seven-figure contract, it was widely assumed that she’d play a big role. Stevens was coming off a career year with the Los Angeles Sparks, and with her offensive skill and defensive mobility, she seemed like a perfect fit in Chicago next to Kamilla Cardoso.
Stevens missed the Sky’s first five games with a knee injury, however, and it’s taken her a little while to get re-acclimated since returning to the court.
In the fantasy basketball
world, it seems that many people got fed up with waiting for her to match her preseason projections; even though Stevens has played in eight-straight games (seven starts) since her return, she’s rostered in 73.5 percent of ESPN leagues—a surprisingly low number for a player of her caliber.
If Stevens is available in your fantasy league, she should be added immediately. And even if she isn’t, consider trading for her.
Chicago continues to struggle as a team, but Stevens is showing signs of turning things around. In her last five games, she’s averaging 11.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.4 defensive stats in 22.4 minutes per game, good for 24.6 fantasy points in standard leagues.
The minutes are the key here. It was obvious to anyone watching that Stevens would need time to get back into game shape and develop chemistry with the rest of Chicago’s starters, and considering the nature of her injury, some initial rust was to be expected. The Sky had too much invested in Stevens to rush her back (especially early in the season), and even though she’s been playing much better recently, it appears that she’s still on some kind of minutes restriction.
Don’t wait until that restriction is lifted to make a move. Stevens is too good of a player to be held down for long, and now she’s looking more like her normal self, you’ll be happy she’s on your fantasy team when she’s fully unleashed.
Monique Akoa Makani is stepping up for the struggling Mercury
The Phoenix Mercury continue to scuffle along, having lost three-straight and slipping to 4-11 on the season.
There are several reasons for this, and the inconsistent play of their go-to stars is certainly one of them, but there’s one player on the Mercury who has been plenty reliable: second-year guard Monique Akoa Makani.
Akoa Makani played a key role for last year’s Mercury team, slotting in as the ideal complementary player alongside Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper and Satou Sabally with her perimeter defense and her 3-point shooting. With Sabally now in New York, Akoa Makani has moved up in the team’s pecking order, and Sami Whitcomb’s absence has further underscored her importance to this year’s Phoenix team.
Through eight games, Akoa Makani has been rock-solid, averaging 11.1 points, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game. She’s also been significantly more productive at the free throw line than she was last season, making 3.3 free throws per game after just 0.9 as a rookie. Altogether, Akoa Makani is averaging 21.9 fantasy points per game in standard leagues.
These numbers aren’t particularly eye-popping, but they’re outstanding for a potential waiver-wire add. Also, there’s something to be said for a player who a struggling team can depend on. As last year’s runners-up, the Mercury are going to do whatever they can to get out of the basement and back into the playoff race, and that could mean leaning even harder on their go-to players. Akoa Makani is now officially one of those players.
She can be had for a good price, too.
As we’ve seen with other international players, Akoa Makani missed the beginning of the season due to overseas commitments, which apparently kept her off most people’s radars. She’s been back since late May, but she’s still rostered in only 16.7 percent of ESPN leagues. Akoa Makani is definitely worth an add, especially for as long as Whitcomb is out of the lineup, which could be quite a while.
Keep rolling with Nia Coffey as an injury stream
Whenever an MVP-caliber player like Napheesa Collier goes down with an injury, it’s always going to take a team effort to replace them.
The Minnesota Lynx are a perfect example of this: They’ve opened the season at 10-3 as Collier continues to recover from offseason ankle surgery, with Olivia Miles having a rookie season for the ages and Natasha Howard proving to be one of the league’s most productive free agency acquisitions.
While players like Miles and Howard were obvious fantasy must-drafts and continue to get their well-deserved flowers, don’t let Nia Coffey’s contributions fall by the wayside. As someone who can play either small forward or power forward, her role in making up for Collier’s absence has been crucial, and she’s responded with a career year. Coffey is currently averaging 8.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 defensive stats in 26.9 minutes per game, and she’s also making a career-best 1.7 3-pointers.
Like with Akoa Makani, these may not seem like league-winning numbers, but they’re far too good to be left on the waiver wire. Coffey is rostered in 38 percent of ESPN leagues, which is understandable for shallow leagues but hard to understand for more competitive ones. She may not be a volume scorer, but the level at which she’s contributing across the box score (as well as her consistent role as a starter) make her a logical add until something changes.
That something is, of course, Collier’s return to the lineup. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve has been coy about when her superstar will make her season debut, and it doesn’t seem like Collier has truly begun ramping up yet. That being said, while players like Miles and Howard will remain massively productive no matter what happens, Coffey’s fantasy value is heavily tied to Collier’s absence, and fantasy managers who have been streaming her should be prepared to cut bait when the time comes.
